A new website to save the Hunt Branch Library is now online. Community members are encouraged to follow www.savethehunt.com the site for news about efforts to keep the city from selling this unique facility for a quick buck.

The Hunt Branch Library building is a significant mid-century modernist structure owned by the City of Fullerton. We believe it is in imminent danger of being sold, and have organized a group of private citizens to ensure that the building remains in the hands of the people of Fullerton, and used to benefit the community.

The William Pereira designed Hunt Branch Library was a gift to the City of Fullerton from the Norton Simon Foundation in 1962. For decades it served as only one of two branches of the Fullerton Public Library, until being closed in 2013 and eventually leased to neighboring Grace Ministries International (GMI) for $ 1,500.00 per month. This arrangement was said to be temporary while GMI renovated their adjacent headquarters, the former Hunt Food & Industries headquarters, also designed by Pereira. However, the lease has continued through 2018. When the lease was approved, the public was promised that the city would support efforts to obtain historic preservation status for the structure, but such protection has not yet occurred.

Instead, at least one member of the Fullerton City Council, current Mayor Doug Chaffee, has repeatedly said that he favors selling the library, and there is reason to believe that at least one other council member supports the idea. It would only take three members of the council to approve a sale. We adamantly oppose the inclusion of the Hunt building on a list of city properties to be considered for sale, and urge it’s immediate removal from this list.

We believe that the Hunt Library building can be used in any number of ways to directly benefit the community for many years to come. This precious gift to our city should not be thrown away for a one time windfall. We invite you to join us by following this blog and contacting us to become involved in this effort to preserve an architectural gem and an irreplaceable community asset.

The agenda for the special meeting of Fullerton’s Library Board of Trustees at the Hunt Branch Library on Saturday, May 5, 10:00 a.m. at 201 S Basque Ave, Fullerton, CA 92833 has been released, and reproduced above. It can be reached online at this link:

and it suggests that the Library Board is exploring every option except selling the Hunt Branch building, beginning with establishing the intent of the original gift itself by examining the grant deed, appended to the agenda (the first page is reproduced below).

Next, the board will discuss renegotiating the month-to-month lease on the closed Hunt library currently held by neighboring Grace Ministries International, suggesting that the board is either contemplating a recommendation to end the lease, or, at least, raise the lease rate beyond the pitiful amount the church is currently paying for it each month.

Most importantly, the third item makes it clear that the board is serious about re-opening the Hunt as a library by discussing a formal request to the city to finally provide adequate funds to do so.

A discussion about community partnerships follows, but it is the fifth item that reveals the disposition of the board–seeking legal representation, presumably to prevent the sale of the site.

If the board is willing to stand up to city council members who want to sell of the property for a quick buck, the public should be there to support them. Please plan to attend this meeting at the Hunt Branch Library, 201 S Basque Ave, Fullerton, CA 92833. Board members will be available to answer public questions and tour the site. Readers may stay up to date on this developing story by visiting savethehunt.com

Fullerton’s Library Board of Trustees will hold a special tour and meeting on Saturday, May 5, 10:00 a.m. to allow members of the public to inspect the closed Hunt Branch Library and discuss possible uses for the facility with the trustees. The Hunt Branch Library is located at 201 S Basque Ave, Fullerton, CA 92833.

This tour represents a rare opportunity to inspect the inside of the library, which is currently leased to a neighboring church for only $ 1,300.00 per month. The building, designed by world famous modernist architect William Pereira, served as a branch of the Fullerton Public Library for half a century before being steadily defunded and eventually closed.

Architect William Pereira on the cover of Time magazine just one year after the opening of the Hunt Branch Library in Fullerton.